We will continue to be the experts in geospatial imaging

We will continue to be the experts in geospatial imaging. Thanks to our robust product line and distinguished standing as longtime industry leaders, we are powering the Geospatial Imaging Chain.Bob MorrisPresident Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping

What is the vision of Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping (LGGM)? We will continue to be the experts in geospatial imaging. Thanks to our robust product line and distinguished standing as longtime industry leaders, we are powering the Geospatial Imaging Chain. The Chain is the definitive industry workflow of capturing, referencing, measuring, analyzing and presenting geospatial information. As the experts in Powering Geospatial Imaging, we want to be the first choice for customers seeking geospatial solutions.

The Geospatial market is growing quickly. Are there any key markets in which you see the role of geospatial technology expanding? While we continue to see growth in traditional markets, we see a tremendous growth potential in various vertical markets, particularly Defense and Emergency Response and Planning. In the last few years, homeland security and emergency planning have become top priorities for many countries. As a result, the use of geospatial technology in these markets has significantly increased. As they discover new ways to utilize geospatial data and technology, our presence in these markets will continue to expand.

How mature or geospatially aware do you think the Asian market is in its development projects and business aspects? Do you see the role of the private sector further maturing or enabling other segments in Asia? The Asian market is gaining maturity in its understanding of geospatial technology. In fact, countries like China, Malaysia and India, to name a few, have recently made huge strides in acquiring the latest geospatial technology, including airborne digital sensors and LIDAR systems. The Asian market certainly understands the huge benefits derived from cutting-edge products like the ADS40 or ALS50, their adaptation of this technology is simply proceeding at a different pace than other world markets. We are still seeing a significant portion of this market transitioning from traditional to more advanced methodologies.

What is LGGM’s approach behind partnering with other key market players? How do you think LGGM compares to similar players in the market? We look for business partners with solid reputations as industry leaders and innovators that can provide us with the complementary core technology we need to leverage our solutions and vice versa. Business partners like ESRI, Oracle and Visual Learning Systems (VLS) have the technology that, when combined with ours, delivers the best workflow solutions this industry has to offer. LGGM has the most advanced and comprehensive market strategy in the market. We have positioned ourselves at the forefront of the geospatial industry by not only offering the most comprehensive geospatial solutions and revolutionary technology available today, but by joining forces with other industry pioneers to facilitate customer workflows and data interoperability.

How is LGGM supporting the Corporate goal of providing bi-directional data flow between products? Our products integrate well with products from other Leica Geosystems division, such as Surveying & Engineering, to provide bi-directional data flow. For example, land cover and land use applications that use remote sensing technology have historically made use of field work to collect ground truth information to validate the classification and perform accuracy assessment. Our software makes it easy to move across the links of the Geospatial Imaging Chain. Imagery that has been captured, referenced and analyzed can be loaded on a laptop with a GPS and taken to the field. Our visualization software can be used to analyze the imagery on the laptop with the current ground location displayed on the real-time GPS feed. Analysts can then decide to update information on-the-fly and collect ground truth measurements for use in accuracy assessment. Using these techniques, analysts have a measured level of confidence in the land cover map they load into a GIS.

What are LGGM’s immediate plans for the future in terms of its products, services and technology? We are continuously working on ways to develop our products to their fullest potential and to exploit new technologies. Our latest area of focus is on continuing to streamline the Leica Photogrammetry Suite (LPS) and our flagship ERDAS IMAGINE® software. We are releasing significant enhancements for both products, most notably the ORIMA module for LPS for the production mapping of large blocks of imagery. We are also enhancing our market-leading hardware. The ADS40 sensor now captures imagery at a 5-centimeter spatial resolution, while our engineers are working to bring to the market data capture at even faster pulse rates with the ALS50 LIDAR system.

We are concentrating on tailoring applications to specific markets. Our Integrated Solutions Group focuses solely on customizing our solutions to meet specific requests. Through our products and services, our goal is to facilitate data and sensor fusion.